I’m blogging in a variety of different places this semester. I’m reposting this from a blog related to my assistantship, the Digital Media @ Colab blog.

This week, US citizens began noticing billboards promoting Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. This would be nothing new, except the billboards appear in the XBox 360 game “Burnout Paradise.” The Obama campaign has sunk a portion of its funds into advertising in online games. The skeptic in me doubts that these ads would have much effect in electoral outcome, but, instead, encourage younger voters to become more engaged with politics and extend Obama’s branding as a new kind of politician.

Of course, if Obama wins, seeing the president’s face in your video game could very well seem Big-Brother-ish, rather than revolutionary.